{"id":31594,"date":"2015-06-04T00:30:06","date_gmt":"2015-06-04T03:30:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/?p=31594"},"modified":"2016-11-25T00:05:41","modified_gmt":"2016-11-25T03:05:41","slug":"us-soldiers-still-trying-to-get-heathenism-recognized","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/2015\/06\/04\/us-soldiers-still-trying-to-get-heathenism-recognized\/","title":{"rendered":"US Soldiers Still Trying to Get Heathenism Recognized"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Army Times reports<\/a> on the long-running efforts by a few US Army Soldiers to have “heathenism” recognized as an official faith group code (in essence, a designator within one’s personnel records). Apparently, an initial notice of approval was put on hold as the separate service branches attempt to create a DoD-wide list of faith group codes.<\/p>\n

An umbrella term covering multiple faith groups, “Heathenism” generally applies to any faith surrounding ancient deities from Norse, Germanic, Anglo-Saxon or similar cultures. At least one such sub-group, Asatru, also resides on the Air Force faith-code list.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The initial request was made, somewhat eponymously, by then Army Soldier Josh Heath. After leaving the Army, he re-engaged when Thor’s Hammer was approved by the VA for headstones (which was highlighted here<\/a> in 2013):<\/p>\n

“Thor’s hammer, one of the symbols of our faith, is approved for soldiers that die, [but] soldiers that are on active duty don’t have the right to have their religion respected while they’re living.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The article describes the relevance of the faith group code, noting it is essentially an administrative marker for personnel records, though it might provide some information to a chaplain who presides over a fallen soldier’s memorial service.<\/p>\n

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